The subject matter herein relates generally to a local luminaire area control system for outdoor lighting control.
On outdoor lighting, notably street lights and parking lot lights, photocontrol components and the corresponding mating receptacles are typically used to turn the lights on and off based upon the ambient light from the sun. Some light fixtures support dimming to variably control the light fixture based on the ambient light levels, time of day. There is a trend to provide programmable functions to the light fixtures based on sensors and programmable controls other than ambient light, such as, detected nearby pedestrian motion. To accommodate these functions, the lighting control receptacles provide additional signaling contacts at the interface between the photocontrol component and the receptacle component mounted to the housing of the light fixture. However, the area available on the components for such signaling contacts is small due to standard arrangement of contacts supporting twist-lock interconnection. Additionally, alignment of the contacts is difficult due to the twist-lock arrangement between the sensor component and the receptacle component. Wired connections are impractical because of the twist-lock arrangement between the sensor component and the receptacle component. Additionally, environmental sealing complicates the design. Communication between the various components may be difficult due to the different communication protocols that may be used by different manufacturers. Furthermore, different products from different manufacturers may have different functionality making the system unusable when mixing products from different manufacturers.
A need remains for a sensor element that allows data communication between the sensor and the control circuit of the light fixture.